Last week on FYFA (and in my life):
Well, this week was a little calmer. It felt nice to relax a little bit – I did start work on a new editing project, but we’re in the beginning stages, so we’re just getting into the swing of things. Still, I didn’t manage to post a discussion post this week because I spent a lot of time working on optimizing my site. Luckily, my husband is a techie, so he’s been able to do some monitoring and optimizing for me. Then he had me change the sizing on a lot of my pictures (which I already knew I needed to do – especially based on Ashley over at Nose Graze’s post about How to Use and Compress Images to Improve SEO & User Experience – head over there and read it for some great advice!). Anyway, I ended up spending a lot more time than planned on that. And then we did a huge freezer cooking session (as recommended by Sam over at Sharing Inspired Kreations – guess I’m following a lot of blog advice this weekend!) for our trip to Colorado, which is coming VERY soon! We’re going to be spending a whole month there, and I can’t wait!
Here’s what you may have missed on the blog last week:
- Siren’s Fury by Mary Weber (review & giveaway) – Last chance to enter to win a signed copy!
- Nowhere but Here by Katie McGarry (excerpt & giveaway) – Still time to enter to win a signed copy and a t-shirt
- Spelled by Betsy Schow (review & giveaway) – Still time to enter to win a $25 gift card
- Burn by Allie Juliette Mousseau (giveaway & reviewish type thing) – Still time to enter to win a signed copy of both Dare and Burn (and there’s also an opportunity to get Burn swag)!
Next week on FYFA:
- May Wrap-up and Best of the Bunch
- June Discussion Challenge Link-up
- Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry (review)
- Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan (review)
- Captured by You by Amber Hart (review & giveaway)
- Let’s Discuss – Faith in Blogging: How to Stay True to Who You Are Without Rocking the Boat – This is the first of several discussions that I’m planning based on my experiences and the panels I attended at RT.
From My OTSP Secret Sister:
I didn’t buy or accept any new books for review this week (thank goodness – have you SEEN the number of books I got last week? Yikes!), BUT my Secret Sister did send me an awesome cold-themed package in the mail. I got The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, a Coldstone Creamery gift card and a cup to keep me cool during those warm summer days!
Great Discussions/Goings On Around the Blogosphere:
I’m FINALLY starting to catch up on this month’s discussion posts. Yes, I actually read and comment on every single post that is posted to our discussion challenge. Why is that, you ask? Because I like checking things off of lists? No, no – it’s because I figure, what good is it to host a challenge and not truly participate in it. My whole point in starting the challenge is because I wanted to foster discussions on our blogs – so it kind of defeats the purpose if I don’t actually discuss!! Still, I will confess to being woefully behind this month. But, I WILL catch up. For now, here are some of my favorites that I read this week (yeah, I know – these weren’t actually posted this week – or last week!).
- Shannon over at It Starts at Midnight gives a hilarious Guide to Epic Book Hoarding
- Katy over at Glorious Panic talks about Censoring and Banning Books
- Charlie over at Girl of 1000 Wonders asks How Do You Cull Your TBR?
- CurlyGeek over at The Book Stop asks the seemingly perplexing question, Should book bloggers write book reviews?
Other Current Giveaways on FYFA:
(Besides the ones listed above)
- May 2015 Discussion Challenge Link-up & Giveaway – Link up your last May discussions and enter to win a 2015 debut of your choice!
- Ash and Ruin Series by Shauna Granger – Still time to enter to win a $25 gift card!
Even More Awesome Giveaways on Other Sites:
I’m trying to do better about keeping track of all the giveaways I find out on the blogosphere so I can let you all know about them. The list is bigger this week!
- Candace’s Book Blog and Pure Imagination have a weekly (I think?) post called Saturday Situation, where people can link up their giveaways and reviews that need some more love. There are hundreds of posts listed there, so you should definitely check it out!
- Enter to win a whole stack of books from The Edge of Forever by Melissa E. Hurst blog tour over at It Starts at Midnight
- Enter to win the Complete Scarlet series by A.C. Gaughen over at My Guilty Obsession
- Enter to win a copy of The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler over at The Perpetual Page Turner
- Enter to win a $100 gift card from the House of Obsidian tour, featured on Yah Gotta Read This!
- Enter to win a $25 gift card from the Between the Lines by Claudia Whitsitt blog tour, featured on My Love for Reading Keeps Growing
- Enter to win a $50 gift card from the tour for Catch and Release by Ella Fox over at Naomi’s Reading Palace!
- Enter to win a $50 gift card from the tour for Rachel’s Deception by Karen Ann Hopkins over at Literary Meanderings!
- Enter to win a signed paperback of Lure by Alyssa Rose Ivy over at Inkslinger PR!
- The May New Release Giveaway Hop – Last chance to enter this one!
- Enter to win a $50 gift card from the tour for A Taylor-Made Life over at Tome Tender.
- Enter to win a rehab survival kit from Danielle Younge-Ullman (for her release of Lola Carlyle’s 12-Step Romance) over at Novel Ink!
Lots of good stuff! Have any giveaways or great discussions happening on your site right now? Feel free to share them in the comments!
Kudos for reading and commenting on every discussion post. That really shows dedication. I’m looking forward to your discussion on faith in blogging.
Giveaway-wise, I have one running this week for ABEA: http://www.emeraldcitybookreview.com/2015/05/armchair-bea-2015-giveaway-day.html
Have a great week!
Some weeks reading and commenting on all of the discussions feels a little overwhelming – I think there was one week where like 30 posts got put up! But I really do love discussing books with you guys, so it’s been a great decision! I’ll add your giveaway to the list right now – thanks for sharing!
I seriously can’t wait for the next go round of OTSPSecretSister! I really want to sign up, it seems like a great way to meet more blogger friends, plus I love buying gifts and surprising people 😉
It’s so much fun! I love buying gifts to, and you can definitely make lots of connections in the Twitter group!
I want to read The Coldest Girl In Coldtown super bad, I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Alex @ Book Chick
http://bookchick2013.blogspot.ca/
I’ve heard great things about it! I can’t wait to read it!
Wow! You had a super busy week! That Secret Sister sent a fantastic package! Thank you for sharing my discussion post!
You’re very welcome! Better late than never, right?
I adore The Coldest Girl in Coldtown – and what a cute way to do an OTSP with a theme!
Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings
I know – I thought it was such a fun theme idea! Some of these secret sisters put me to shame with their creativity!
Thanks for all the giveaways, Nicole. Now we know what I’ll be doing tonight while I watch TV.
The perfect time to enter giveaways!
I absolutely LOVE everyones mentions of #OTSPSecretSister. I would LOVE to get in on that, and I am upset that I didn’t know about it earlier! Looks like you have a great one!
-Monica @ Tomes Project
It will probably be starting up again in July with sign-ups in June. Watch #OTSPSecretSister on Twitter and start joining in on the conversations now!
Ohhh nice! I soooo wanted to do the OTSP Secret Sister thing, but losing my job in January hit me hard! Still struggling to find one too. Hopefully the next go around I might try signing up. By then I hope to be a lot closer to getting a job, as I know it’s coming up within the next 2 months or so? Or maybe I’ll be really lucky and already have a job!
Hope you enjoy the new read and goodies!
Here’s my STS
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
Oooh, the Holly Black book looks good! When ya gonna start that one?
That’s the million dollar question. I always think I’ll start on a book I’m excited about really soon, but then other reads inevitably get in the way!
I gotcha! I’m the same way,lol.
Things are finally slowing down for me as well, Nicole. Just one more weekend of busy stuff and then I think we have a couple of weekends at home before vacation. I know we are seeing two local theatre shows, but that’s just a few hours on a Saturday. I hope to catch up on the discussion posts soon!
Sometimes things just get hectic! Glad things are slowing down for you too.
You are lucky that your husband is a techie! That would be so helpful!
Glad you were able to refrain from spending and getting more books… You did get a few last week to keep you reading for the rest of the year! 😉
Thanks for the feature at the bottom too girl!
Naomi @ Naomi’s Reading Palace
I am VERY lucky that my husband’s a techie! He handles all the tough stuff for me!
Looks like you got a lot done this week – that’s awesome. I just got back from BEA and I have a lot of work this week, so I’m a bit worn out. haha I hope to get some things finished that I’ve had on the to-do list for a LONG TIME though.
Did you have a fantabulous time at BEA? I hope you loved it!!!
Lots going on! And I’m excited for your CO trip! I bet that will be a blast. I’ve never been there and would love to visit that part of the country someday.
Whoa. EVERY one?!? Damn, I feel like a really terrible co-host in comparison! I try to read and comment on as many as I can but there is no WAY I could get to every one. Consider me amazed and in awe (and kind of jealous!) and needing your secrets to time management!
After I posted this, I thought, Well, that kind of sounded mean, like all people who host a challenge have to read every post or something. That’s obviously not reasonable. Don’t worry, I only make totally unreasonable demands on myself! LOL! And as far as time management goes, it’s called – don’t get any housework done, have kids who are old enough to make their own lunches (and sometimes dinners) and ignore all of the other tasks that you should be doing. It’s very effective. Except last month. I’m still only halfway through the May discussion posts, so … can’t win ’em all.
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is such a great book! Hope you enjoy it.